World News

Buckle-up, America. Things just took a sudden, dramatic and unexpected turn in the world . . .

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday said the U.S. is willing to take military action to end the Syrian bombing of civilians if the U.N. is unable to do so.

“When the international community consistently fails to act, there are times when states are compelled to take their own action,” Haley told the Security Council, noting that this is one of those times.

“We warn any nation determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and inhuman suffering, but most especially the outlaw Syrian regime, the United States remains prepared to act if we must,” Haley said. “It is not a path we prefer. But it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take again.”

Tuesday, Russia publicly stated that the US and its coalition partners were arranging false flag chemical weapons attacks, after which the US planned to strike government held districts in Damascus as a "response," according to the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Russian armed forces will respond if the lives of Russian servicemen in Syria are threatened, including in the event of a missile strike on Damascus, the Russian General Staff said.

"According to reports, after the false flag attack, the US plans to accuse the Syrian government troops of using chemical weapons, and to provide the world community with the so-called 'evidence' of the alleged mass death of civilians at the hands of the Syrian government and "Russia supporting it," the chief of the General Staff said. In retaliation, Washington, according to Gerasimov, "plans to launch a missile strike on the government-held districts of Damascus."

At the same time in Damascus, in the offices and facilities of the Ministry of Defense of Syria, there are now Russian military advisers, representatives of the Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties and military police, Gerasimov stressed.

"We have reliable information about militants preparing to falsify a government chemical attack against civilians. In several districts of Eastern Ghouta, a crowd was assembled with women, children and old people, brought from other regions, who were to represent the victims of the chemical incident, " Gerasimov said.

According to Gerasimov, "White Helmets" activists and film crews had already arrived at the scene with satellite video transmitters are already in place.

"This has been confirmed by the discovery of a laboratory for the production of chemical weapons in the village of Aftris, which was liberated from terrorists," Gerasimov stressed.

"Despite constant attempts by militants to disrupt peace initiatives in Eastern Ghouta, the situation in the suburb of Damascus shows a trend toward stabilization. Since the entry into force of UN Security Council Resolution 2401 of February 24, 2018, [a total of] 145 civilians and 13 representatives of armed opposition, including 76 people overnight, have been withdrawn from Eastern Ghouta though the humanitarian corridor created by the Russian Federation," Gerasimov added.

Haley compared the current situation in Syria to a period last year when the Syrian government’s chemical weapon attacks led the U.S. to launch a missile attack against the Syrian military.

The council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in late February but it has been unable to put an end to the Syrian government’s bombings or get the government to permit humanitarian access.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the bombings in Ghouta have only gotten worse since the Security Council called for the ceasefire, noting that the Syrian government — helped by Russia and China — has significantly increased its controlled territory in the region.

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday warned the Syrian government that “it would be unwise for them to use weaponized gas” following reports of chlorine attacks in Ghouta, an area surrounding the capital city of Damascus.

Although Mattis did not threaten military action, he noted the previous airstrikes that followed a gas attack and said President Trump has “full political maneuver room” to take whatever action he deems necessary.

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at a press conference in India, also warned Syria that it would carry out targeted strikes if it found “irrefutable evidence” that chemical weapons were being used to kill civilians, Reuters reported.